What War Does
by Topaz Tsubasa
Summary: He sat there and bore it all, because this was what war did to people. Drabble. NxM


_A/N: A lot darker than what I normally write. I thought if I were ever going to write something in honor of someone's birthday, it should probably at least be __**happy**__, but my muse would have none of it. Anyways, don't own GA. Happy Birthday, Natsume!_

**What War Does**

Natsume walked away quickly, because the faster he walked the faster he could get away from that damned hospital. Every single time he stepped in there, memories resurfaced, and he felt like things just got worse and worse than they already were.

_Blood everywhere—_

He narrowed his eyes. Natsume walked faster, trying to just focus on getting one foot in front of the other.

_Screaming. Flames. __**Please don't die…**_

War. Something in his life he could definitely do without, and something that was a definite fixture in it that he felt like he couldn't get rid of, no matter what anyone did. It was horrible, and whenever he was sent back to the academy he tried to completely erase it from his mind, just for a bit of a reprieve. But then he had to go to the _hospital_ for monthly check-up, and then seeing countless injured comrades and war victims and the tangible evidence of it made whatever he did completely null.

Telling friends of fallen comrades as he came back from the front lines was one of the worst experiences he'd ever had. Seeing the looks on their faces, the pain unfold, confirmed that Natsume never wanted to or have the need to do something like that ever again in his life. He nearly broke into a run as the memories he'd buried under what he thought was a big rock and had turned out to be a tiny pebble started flooding his mind.

_Mikan—!_

He ran, taking his clenched fists out of his pockets and gritting his teeth, trying as hard as he could to escape his thoughts. He'd pretend that running from that hopeless hospital would mean that he wouldn't have to think about it all anymore. The high school, middle school, somatic building whizzed by and he didn't give a single whit. He just wanted to get away.

He got to the special ability building, preparing to pass it by like he did all the others, and stopped in his tracks when he heard a sound. A piano. _Was that—_

He ran straight inside, doing the exact opposite of what he was aiming to do because everyone inside was still rattled because Noda had yet to wake up from a coma he'd gone into a few months ago. He went straight for the second floor music room, designed for helping the kids vent whenever things outside got too bad and they wanted a distraction. Every Alice-type building got one, and the Special Ability class had chosen music rather than the other choices they could select from.

Natsume opened the door, and his heart skipped a beat. It was Mikan, alone and playing quite possibly the saddest song he'd ever heard in his life. He stepped inside, closing the door slowly so as to not make any noise. She didn't look up, not once, as he'd come into the room. Mikan's fingers just kept on pressing the appropriate keys, and Natsume just stood there and listened to her doing so. But soon there was nothing to listen to because she'd stopped playing and was shaking, really, really shaking _so_ badly.

He was at her side in a flash, wrapping his arms around her and tucking her into himself. She buried her head into his neck and he couldn't do anything to stop the shaking because this was what war did to people. It shattered their morale and made any semblance of peace maddeningly out of reach for those affected by it in any remote way.

Natsume sat there, bearing it all, fixing determined eyes on something nobody but him could see. They were _going_ to get through this. All of them were going to see this to the end, no matter what, and he would see it through.

So that he wouldn't have to run so desperately to get away from his thoughts.

So that he would never have to see the pain on their faces ever again.

So that Mikan wouldn't shake so badly and he wouldn't only be able to sit there because there was nothing he could do about it.

This would **end.**

_A/N: Fic inspired by "Keeping the Peace" from Dissidia: Final Fantasy Original Soundtrack. It was the song I envisioned Mikan playing._

_**Please review, for poor Natsume and his friends' sakes.**_


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